


A Proper Family Christmas

by uhnonniemiss



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Baking, Christmas, Family, Hospitals, M/M, Minor swearing and alcohol use, Pacrim Secret Santa, Secret Santa, Sickfic kinda not really, Very Made Up Science, Weird Pizza, happy holidays everyone!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 09:18:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2845853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uhnonniemiss/pseuds/uhnonniemiss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Hermann ends up in the medical wing, he looks all set to spend Christmas by himself. Not if Newt gets a say in it, though.</p><p>Or, in which adopted and blood family save the Holidays</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Proper Family Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Oblivion_Wanderer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oblivion_Wanderer/gifts).



> My Pacrim Secret Santa fic! The prompts were; newt + making cookies for hermann and sickfic- I may have taken this and, uh, ran with it a little.
> 
> Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you like it :)

Newt snatched the clipboard from the doctor's hand, scanning across it quickly. "So you're sure everything's okay."

The medic sighed. "For the last time, Mr-"

" _Doctor_ Geiszler. There are three doctors in this room, dude, and only one of us has messed up here, so don't you forget it." Newt started to pace, still reading. "You checked for everything? Circulation activity, ocular motor control, _everything_?"

"Newton," Hermann said in a half-whisper from the hospital bed. He was still wearing a rumpled grey _Babylon 5_ tshirt, which was probably testament to how ill he felt, if he allowed people to see him in his sleepwear. Newt winced as he saw again how exhausted he looked, dark purple bruises under his eyes and skin almost as white as the hospital bed sheets. It did help to make him look even more exasperated, though, which Hermann would have been pretty pleased with. "Trust me, I've been poked and prodded more than I'm sure was necessary, I am perfectly fine."

Newt rolled his eyes. "Yeah, big talk from the guy who was still on a _respirator_ less than an hour ago," he snorted, flipping the page. "So, you've taken him off the morphine and switched to oxycodene-"

The doctor arched an eyebrow. "Naturally. We'd like to keep him here for observation for the next few days, see how he improves, change the dosage if we have to-"

"Yeah, absolutely, that seems-"

"I am still here, you know!" Hermann said indignantly, trying to push himself up on shaking arms- which only earned him an alarmed yell from both Newt and the doctor. "I'm ill, not deaf!"

"Ah, dude, I'm sorry," Newt reached out to him, sitting on the edge of the bed. The door clicked shut behind them, quietly announcing the doctor's departure. "But do you honestly feel okay? You need more oxygen, or-" He reached for Hermann's wrist, sneakily trying to take his pulse. Instead of pulling away, though, Hermann just covered Newt's hand with his own, eyes gently chastising him.

"I've felt better, I'll admit, but it's being taken care of." His voice still had a nasty rasp to it, and Newt tried to ignore the slight shake in his hands. "Your concern, while appreciated, is severely misplaced."

Newt's mouth twitched into a half-smile. "Trust you to be that one person in a thousand who has an allergic reaction to morphine." He paused, a tiny line appearing between his eyes. "Wait, they said they're keeping you here for observation."

"Yes. Five days, to be exact."

"But today's the twenty-second!" Newt whined. "Dude, you're gonna be stuck in a hospital bed on Christmas!"

Hermann blinked at him "And?"

"What do you mean, ' _And_?', Hermann, and _Christmas_."

Hermann rolled his eyes. "Again, my auditory system is fully functioning, thank you- to put it in words a layman would understand, _so what?"_ Newt gasped, holding a hand to his chest in mock-injury. "You know I don't particularly care for the festival, and you're _Jewish_ , Newton, for God's sake, you don't even celebrate it."

"Pff, yeah, _technically_ , but my Dad wasn't, so the whole holiday season ending up being some multi-religious mess. Anyways, try being in college and surrounded by mulled wine and mistletoe, you get into the spirit _real_ quick, let me tell you. But whatever, _you_ celebrate it- yeah, I don't care if it's _secularly_ , you _do_ \- it's still _goodwill_ and _love_ and _presents_ and _Hermann are you actually a billion years old?"_

"No, sadly, Newton, because by then I'd hope that age would have taken my hearing and I wouldn't have to listen to your inane chatting," Hermann sighed.

"Nah, you're right, you're not a billion years old, because then you'd probably be a dinosaur and you're definitely not cool enough for that." Hermann swatted at him lightly, making a (promptly and completely ignored) noise of protest as Newt swung his legs round onto the bed to lay beside him. "Whatever, dude, I'm still coming to visit you on Christmas. And, I mean, all the other days as well, but _especially_ Christmas."

"If you must," Hermann sighed, adjusting his position on the pillows.

"And you're getting cookies. Non-negotiable."

Hermann hesitated, lips curling into a smile. "I'll allow it." He coughed sharply, wincing. Newt's hands fluttered over him helplessly.

"Ah, man, what do you need? Water? Painkillers? Should I-"

"Rest," Hermann said quietly, still breathless, and Newt nodded. "Oh, yeah, sure, you must be exhausted, I'll just-" He made to sit up, but Hermann waved an arm at him vaguely.

"Stay."

Newt blinked. "What? You- you want me to stay?"

"Newton, I had an allergic reaction a couple of hours ago, and my chest isn't completely cooperative with speaking, so don't make me repeat myself." Yeah, even as ill as he was, Hermann still had the energy to be snarky. Newt almost said no, but one look at Hermann's tired face made the words stick in his throat, and he fell down onto the mattress again.

"Okay, dude, as long as you don't make it weird if we wake up spooning." Hermann made a _hmmph_ noise and turned over, but Newt was pretty sure he'd caught a flash of a smile before he faced away. As he felt Hermann's breaths deepening and evening out, though, Newt couldn't bring himself to drift into sleep too. No, he was distracted by _things_. Important Christmas _things_. So as Hermann slept soundly next to him, Newt stayed awake, and he plotted.

* * *

 

Newt squinted as he tipped chocolate chips into the doughy mixture; he poured a few in, considered, shrugged, and decided to throw in the rest of the packet. Generally he didn't make test batches- mostly because the dough always disappeared somehow before it made it to the oven- but this time, he was actually making an effort. Baking trays, Youtube tutorials, the whole shebang.

Newt stirred the mixture, and figured it was pretty funny he was doing this for a guy he was supposed to hate.

It was the least he could do to bake Hermann something, though. The Shatterdome medical wing was hardly welcoming and homely at the best of times, the staff hadn't even put up any _tinsel_ for crying out loud. By the time December 24th rolled around, most of the officers just wanted to go home to their families, while Hermann sat ignored and bored out of his mind (even though he'd started working from his laptop after a few hours, enforced medical leave be damned).

And the worst thing was, as much as Hermann tried to hide it behind a stiff upper lip, he was _disappointed_. There was nothing worse than being stuck in hospital during the holidays, even if you weren't exactly a people person. Newt had caught him after a skype call with his brother once, and the look on Hermann's face had been "Almost actual human emotion, dude, should I call for help?"

Hermann set the laptop down on the table beside him. "Believe it or not, Newton, I'm not a robot, despite my professional field." The snap had no malice in it, though, so Newt decided it was okay to proceed.

"You miss home a lot, then?" Newt asked, folding his feet in the chair underneath him. "I feel you. I mean, I love being on call twenty four/seven for a Kaiju attack as much as the next guy, but I kind of miss being told how tall I am by a group of drunk German uncles."

Hermann raised an eyebrow. "Yes, that must be quite a novel experience for you."

"You shut your mouth."

"No, you're right, Geiszler holidays sound _enchanting_."

"What, you didn't get attacked by the smell of Werther's Originals once a year? No tiny Gottliebs gathered around the Christmas tree and singing a hearty Christmas carol?"

"I would hardly call anything my family does _hearty_ , Newton," Hermann warned, but seemed somehow softened at the edges. "No, I can't say I miss most of my family. Just Bastien, he's the only tolerable sibling. By the time he was a toddler, Mother had already passed, and Dietrich and Karla were too old to want to play with either of us, so we were mostly left to our own devices."

Newt bit his lip. "Ah, dude, I'm sorry, I didn't think. Talking about family must be kind of rough on you this time of year."

Hermann waved his hand. "It's you, Newton, of course you didn't think, but it's alright. Remembering the good things is better than remembering nothing at all. Anyway, all my memories of Christmas involve my brother. We used to bake with _Oma,_ when we were younger. She was rather fond of the season, we could hardly breathe for paper chains."

"I knew it!" Newt practically leaped out of his chair in excitement. "You totally had the whole stereotypical festival, dude, _baking with your grandma_ , how traditional is that?"

Hermann snorted. "Still, the best Christmas I had was when Bastien came to visit me in England; mostly because we didn't have to share the wine with anybody." His eyes glinted with something that would have looked dangerously close to fondness in anybody else.

"Ah, forget singing Gottliebs- _drunk_ Gottliebs, that's where the party's at," Newt grinned, actually drawing a laugh out of Hermann.

"Indeed. With us stationed so far out, and him working with his thrilling new law firm," hell yeah, that tone was practised and teasing "I hardly see him now, but we stay in touch where we can. We're both of the mind that… that family is important, in times like these, even such as we are. Perhaps _especially_ such as we are."

Newt was pretty sure that was the most Hermann had ever said about his family, and found for once that he didn't have much to say back. "Yeah. To family, dude," he raised an imaginary glass.

Hermann inclined his head. "To family."

 

~

Newt looked down absently, and noticed half his cookie dough had disappeared again. _Eh, well, I'll just eat the rest of this and try again tomorrow morning._ He heard clattering and shouting outside his door, and peered out the tiny porthole window to see Aleksis and Sasha carrying a tree that looked about half the size of a Jaeger down the hallways, the Wei triplets sporting a massive box of decorations between them. Newt would have bet his next month's funding that a Ukrainian hard-house cover of _Jingle Bells_ was playing dully in the background.

It was actually almost poetic, the way everyone came together. _Yes, the way Mr Hansen is swearing, you can hardly ignore the poetry,_ Newt almost heard Hermann say, and had to suppress the urge to flip him off. But it was nice, how even in the middle of the attacks and the slowly dwindling Jaegers and the general lack of reasons for cheer, that people managed to- _manage_. With new family and new friends and dragging their own parts of Christmas into the Shatterdome walls. Bringing the holidays to themselves when it couldn't quite reach them.

Newt dropped his spatula. He was a _genius_.

Abandoning the half-eaten dough, he flipped up the lid of his laptop, logging easily into Hermann's Skype (because hey, the guy had like one password for everything. It wasn't Newt's fault he muttered aloud to himself as he typed.)

Texting Tendo with one hand and searching Skype contacts with the other, Newt grinned. _If Hermann can't come to Christmas, then Christmas can damn well come to him._

* * *

 

Their were a few sharp raps on the door, and Hermann looked up over his glasses, setting his book beside him. "Come in," he called, voice stronger than it had been. _Blasted doctors, why haven't they discharged me yet?_ Newt opened the door so he could just about fit through, wearing a blue jumper with tiny knitted Kaiju and sporting a lurid paper hat perched on his head. "Newton, you look ridiculous."

"Happy Holidays to you too, nerd," Newt grinned, moving to sit next to Hermann. "Okay, so, uh. I might have done a thing. Just don't yell at me, alright?"

Hermann's mind immediately flashed to a million different scenarios, which ranged from a few equations being rubbed out to a tiny Kaiju roaming around his quarters. "What is it."

Newt glanced down at his hands. "Cool, so, you know how you can't come down and do all the neat festive stuff with everyone-"

Hermann couldn't help it; he softened. "Honestly, Newton, it doesn't matter-"

"Yeah, it does, so I decided, if you couldn't come to us… we'd bring it to you. Come on in, guys." Newt raised his voice, and the door swung open, revealing a group of people. "Surprise!"

Hermann blinked as Tendo, Mako, The Kaidonovskys, The Weis, and even Chuck poured into the room, all wearing a Santa hat, a paper crown, or in Tendo's case, a headband with two pieces of mistletoe attached. They chattered as they strung lights and tinsel around the room with all the speed and efficiency of a SWAT team, drawing up chairs until they were gathered around the bed, and suddenly Hermann found himself with a hat on his head and a glass of mulled wine in his hand. "Newton- what's-"

"'Family is important', dude," Newt smiled. "And you better believe we're your extended family now. As though we were gonna let you stay moping all alone up here by yourself on Christmas. Oh, I made you those mandatory cookies." He pulled out a tin covered in red wrapping paper, and Hermann lifted the lid to reveal a small pile of still-warm cookies vaguely shaped like dinosaurs. He sniffed tentatively. "Chocolate and cinnamon?"

"Don't even pretend like that's not your favourite. I do listen to you sometimes, man," Newt shrugged. "So, yeah, we got hats, we got decorations- Tendo brought Christmas dinner-"

Hermann blinked. "Is that- Tendo, is that the components of a traditional Christmas meal presented on a pizza?"

"You bet your life, my man," Tendo refilled Jin's glass. "Alcohol and weird pizza, that's the true meaning of Christmas."

"A motto to live by. So, what do you think, huh?" He looked nervously back to Hermann, who had his face hidden in his hands, shoulders shaking. "Oh crap, are you okay, did I do something wrong?"

Hermann lifted his head, and Newt realised after a moment that he was laughing, real, genuine laughter, for everyone to see. "This is- the _most_ ridiculous thing- you've ever done, Newton."

"Yeah, sorry, I guess I went sort of overboard," Newt shuffled, coughing awkwardly, until an arm reached up and pulled him into a half-hug.

Hermann shook his head, still laughing. "It's wonderful," he said. "Thank you."

Newt beamed brighter than all the fairy lights on all the trees in all the world. "Alright, nice! Score one for Geiszler!" The people- _Hermann's family_ \- cheered around them. "Okay, crank up the damn Christmas carols, I want everyone in this freaking Shatterdome to wish they were at this party."

A lot of things were discovered that day. They found that Mako could apparently drink every single one of them under any table she wanted. They found that turkey and stuffing pizza didn't taste nearly as bad as expected, and that Newt was a surprisingly good baker ("It's just applied chemistry, dude!" "So what you're saying is you required a doctorate to make snickerdoodles.") They discovered that Aleksis was surprisingly good at charades, Hu could make the very worst cracker joke send everyone into helpless laughter, and Tendo really intended to put that mistletoe to good use (much to Chuck's alarm).

They drank to holidays. They drank to family. They drank to Hermann. They drank to the wine. Mostly, though, they drank to the fact that they still could, that everyone in the room had made it to another Christmas; not that anything that saddening was said out loud, but it was true. Wine flowed fast and talk and laughter flowed faster and easier than it had in a long time, and somewhere along the way, Hermann actually caught himself having _fun_ \- more fun than he'd had in years, possibly.

So much so that it'd become almost impossible for Hermann to harbour any annoyance at the man sat cross legged at the foot of the bed, forcibly offering everyone peppermint tea because _smell it, dude, it smells like winter in a mug._ Probably a Christmas miracle right there.

It's about halfway through the day when Newt starts checking his watch. "Eager to end the festivities, Newton?" Hermann asked, delicately biting into a mince pie.

Newt scoffed. "Yeah, right, like I ever run away from a party. Nah, there should just be something here by now. Never mind."

"Well," Hermann hesitated, then cleared his throat, leaning over the side of his bed and pulling a small parcel from underneath it. "This can always fill the time, as you wait."

"No way, dude, you got me something?" Newt grinned, taking the present off Hermann and tearing into the green wrapping paper. "You've literally been confined to a bed, how did you-"

"Oh, please, Newton, I'd planned this months ago, I just gave Miss Mori the keys to my quarters." Mako waved cheerily as she heard her name. "Oh, don't give me that look, Newton, one of us actually has to be prepared occasionally."

"Yeah, but that's, like, _too_ prepared." Newt narrowed his eyes, before they widened at the gift in his hands. "Oh, wow, these are actually cool! I expected, I don't know. A book token. Deodorant."

"Not that that would go amiss, sometimes," Hermann smiled, as Newt mimed hitting him. In the other man's hand were three slim leather bracelets. They appeared black at first glance, but on closer inspection and in the right light they turned a deep blue, which could only mean they were-

"Kaiju skin?" Newt choked. "Dude, do you know how rare this is? Did you have to sell your soul to the black market dealers, or something?"

Hermann shrugged, nodding to the fraying pink cotton bands currently on Newt's wrist. "They were getting a little tired, so you needed something more hard wearing. At least they fit your aesthetic this time."

"Nah, dude, pink is cool, but this is like, _beyond_ cool. Thank you, wow, if this was anyone else I'd say they were getting sentimental."

"I'm glad you know I'm above such things," Hermann started, before he was faced with a full-on Newt hug. He patted his back, smiling. "Happy holidays, Newton."

"Happy holidays-" Newt glanced down as his phone screen lit up. "Ugh, finally, your present is here. Not badly timed, actually."

Hermann frowned. "Please, you've done enough already, and while I appreciate it greatly, there's really no need-"

"Suck my dick, Hermann, if you're gonna have an allergic reaction to all this goodwill, then you're in the best place for it and I'm gonna run with it."

"But-"

"Oh, trust me, you want this present. Family, right?" Hermann looked at him with something bordering on affection. "The true reason for the season? Yeah, well, while we are totally all super awesome and fab, I acknowledge that we're not the real thing. So- I'm not good at adlibbing. He better hurry up." There was a knock on the door. "Neat. Come in!"

The door swung open. "Hello, big brother," Bastien grinned from the other side.

Hermann sat bolt upright. "Bastien? What- how are you-" His mouth hung open, looking quickly back and forth between his brother and Newt as his face broke into a wide smile. "I thought you were on a case! In Peru!"

Bastien laughed. "Not if your firm gets an urgent call from the Shatterdome asking specifically for you, apparently." He didn't stand quite as stiffly as Hermann, didn't speak quite as properly, but the resemblance came through in the faint German tinge to his accent and the lines of his jaw. Also, Bastien arrived with another holiday discovery; Gottliebs could be tactile when he felt like it, as was shown by the crushing hug they gave each other, careful not to dislodge the IV trailing from Hermann's hand. Bastien patted his shoulder awkwardly. "Be careful, you'll have me on the respirator next if you don't let go."

Hermann pulled away, coughing. "I, ah, apologise for my temporary lack of decorum- I simply did not anticipate seeing you-"

Bastien rolled his eyes ( _crap_ but did he look like Hermann when he did that), and looked at Newt. "You've still not managed to extract that calculator from up his arse?" Newt shrugged, grinning. "Ah, he's a tough case. Another glass of wine and he'll be singing his love for me. Actually-"

Newt burst out laughing as Hermann's expression turned scandalised. "Oh, dude, I'm totally swapping you for him-" "Not in front of my _colleagues_ -"

It wasn't until later, as Newt stood talking to Sasha from the other side of the room, that he heard Bastien say quietly. "You chose your friends well, I see. Especially Newton. Even if he's as ridiculous as you say he is-"

"Oh, he is, believe me." Newt could almost _hear_ that exasperated expression.

"Even if he is," Bastien continued. "He had to pull a lot of strings to get me here, and it was just to make you happy. Did all of this for you. There aren't many people these days-especially these days- who do things like that."

"I know." Hermann would never let his voice show that amount of affection if he knew Newt could hear; Newt tucked that tone away for a quiet evening, so he could gloat over it with a glass of whiskey.

"He'll do right by you." There was the sound of fabric as Bastien clasped his brother's shoulder. "I'm glad you found him."

"So am I, though it's irritating to be reminded of it," Hermann said, quietly, thoughtfully. "Congratulations, you remain the second most intolerable person I have the misfortune to associate with."

"Yes, you only endure me because you have to, blah blah- change the record, old man," he nudged Hermann, grinning. "You only say that because you care."

Hermann didn't condescend to answer that, though Newt knew, and suspected Bastien did to, that he didn't have to.

* * *

 

Eventually the party started to wind down, bustle and noise melting into empty mince pie cases and abandoned strands of tinsel. Even Bastien had to leave eventually, with promises of _I'll write more often_ and _I swear I will get you drunker next time_ , and their friends filed out with shouts of affection until it was just Hermann and Newt again, sat in convoluted positions next to each other so they could both fit on the tiny hospital bed.

"So," Newt nudged Hermann, swirling the end of the wine in his glass. "Am I the best friend ever, or am I the best friend ever?"

Hermann rolled his eyes. "Certainly, you're inimitable in humility."

"Yeah, well, being a certified genius and all-round rockstar, I had to learn to become humble, you know," Newt shrugged, grinning. "No, dude, I wanna hear you say it."

"Fine," Hermann huffed. "I suppose, perhaps, the endeavour wasn't wholly terrible- oh _alright_ , I had fun." He tried to stop himself smiling, but failed miserably- or happily, whichever way you looked at it. "Genuinely. Thank you, Newton. It was… kind."

Newt drained the end of his glass. "No biggie, man, I had an awesome time too." He played absently with the leather bands on his wrist. "And I think it kind of helped the others, too, like, morale and stuff. It's good to remember you're not just part of- part of a war effort. Like, even though we are, we're a family too, and we genuinely like each other- or, well, tolerate each other, in our case," he laughed.

Hermann snorted. "Yes, clearly we despise each other." He hesitated. "There are worse family members than you, Newton."

"Wow, what a glowing recommendation."

"Yes, well, it is the holidays after all; don't expect compliments like that all the time," Hermann smirked.

Newt wiped a fake tear from his eye. "I mean, I'd like to thank the academy… asshole," he shoved his shoulder gently against Hermann's. "But, for the record, I guess there are probably worse family members than you out there, too. I mean, I'd have to look pretty hard, but still." Newt raised his empty glass. "Happy holidays, Hermann."

Hermann knocked their glasses together with a soft _clink_. "Happy holidays, Newton."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Also, shoutout to tumblr user Magicalgenderqueermikechilton for helping me to be as unproblematic as possible ^_^ 
> 
> Have wonderful holidays everyone, I love you guys <3


End file.
